Gate Jurisdiction
by Frosterix
Summary: The Gate was opened in 2019; not only a portal, but scientifically proven as a magnet that attracted anomalies and other entities from outside the solar system. The United States was tasked with an expedition. Forming the United States Space Expedition Force compiled of detachments from the Marine Corps, Navy, and Air force. Read the Prologue and follow the story for more updates.
1. IntroPrologue

**Hello Readers!**

 **I intend Jurisdiction to be light and heavy at times.**

 **Before we start reading, this is a _trigger_ warning for those who are easily offended. It is not my job to cater to your feelings nor is it my job to make sure your "safe" bubble gets disturbed. I'm going to put down a list of things that will inevitably appear in _Jurisdiction:  
_** **Gore, Politics, Diplomacy, Racism, Religion, _Maybe Lemon. . ._ and lastly, discussion of morals**

 **Do not pressure me to release a chapter. The best writing comes when you are motivated, and not when you only do it because of "work". Quality Content. A good example is if you watched Eromanga (anime), another Rom-com which was pretty dumb but hysterical. I admit I must be a pretty shit writer compared to most other writers, but I enjoy writing genuinely.**

 **Anyways, feel free to review chapters using comments to either motivate me or just being plain rude which motivates me further.**

* * *

 **Prologue:**

The Gate was opened in 2019, with the SDF forces quick to respond. It was discovered that beyond the Gate in what other countries called the "special region" had abundant resources such as natural gas, and coal. There was heavy opportunities to invest money into holders that would go into the region shortly after the diplomatic tensions were resolved following the fall of the Empire. The Princess, nothing other than a figure head is simply a pawn of Japan, clearly knowing the inevitable destruction if retaliation was brought forth. Needless to say, the Princess did everything the SDF asked.

Years followed, with tensions worsening with global super powers. The Gate was open to the public with the wealthy and eight million select people varying in gender, intelligence, culture and intellectual diversity. Not only did this reduce population a slight bit, but it also was an escape from the relatively harsh climate of earth compared to the "Special Region". Little by little, more people were brought in with the US military leaning over the SDF flexing their muscles. Flexing was more than enough as the US deployed two regiments of the Army and set up a FOB three miles from the base the SDF occupied. Along with that, deploying eight air assets whilst supplying the Army with other heavy ground vehicles to traverse the terrain.

Despite the Utopia being opened. In 2038, the attempt to bring peace amongst countries resulted in nuclear warfare. With %68 of the worlds population being purged and many others injured. The only survivors were those who went into the Gate and those who sought shelter underground. Of course, places where the nukes didn't strike survived also. However, this was a second chance for the world to recover. With the already discovered and archived information, rebuilding would be achievable. Poverty is at an all time low with the reduced population and the remnants of the countries forming the Thirteen Percent Treaty Organization, displaying heavy resemblance to its predecessor; NATO. Individual Governments remained the same however the threat of war was virtually abolished. With each side acknowledging the blood shed signing a pact to never use nuclear weapons on each other again. Only to protect each other from domestic and external threats.

Fast forward twenty years, 2057. There was an adequate population of earth beings in the "Special Region". With the United States specializing in space and naval technology, other countries self assigned roles that would form the Triangle pact. The United States and its neighbors invested in technology, Europe and its Neighbors investing in cleaning up the Earth and scrapping remnants. And Asia, tasked with manufacturing.

However, soon discovered by an international collaboration of scientists within the Gate and on Earth. The gate itself wasn't just a portal to a special region. The gate was a magnet of some sort, attracting unknown entities from outer space. This would explain the missing planets outside the solar system, along with a few asteroids.  
In the year 2060, the previously missing planet from the Adronus system was discovered again. Its name, Ardona. This time, Ardona made its appearance only 600,000 miles from Planet Earth. Scientist speculate a shift in space and in the recently discovered "magic" in the Special Region, something was up that they couldn't explain.

 **The United States, specializing in space technology, was tasked with an expedition.**


	2. Chapter 1-1: LZ

**Chapter 1-1: LZ**

"Sometimes to live life, you have to experience the edge of death"

* * *

 **Making connection to server. . .**

 **Sync complete. . .**

 **Retrieving client info. . . .**

 **Success, sending client info. . .**

 **Logged in. . .**

* * *

 **Location: Juneo Platform, United States Space Expedition Force (USSEF)**

 **Unit: 0398 Orbital Shock Marine, LCpl Tucker Pierce (9553-228-13231) Charlie Company  
Age: 22  
Weight: 156 Lbs  
Height: 5'11**

 **Current Time: June 4th 2064, 01:00  
Company Units: Alive/Injured/KIA/MIA: 90/0/0/0  
Expedition Team: Alpha: 10 Units**

 **Status: Green**

 **Last Updated: *Three Hours Ago***

* * *

"Oi Pierce, bring some space pussy back now will you?"

"What y'da mean?"

"Look man, the Special Region or whatever you like to call it is swarming with beauts'! Now a fucking planet appears six hundred thousand miles away from Earth because of that Gate attracting _space entities_ , now imagine what's on that planet? Not only that, but fucking actual magic exists! A magic that isn't those ones where they pull the bunny out of the hat. This is actual magic with fireballs man!"

"Uh huh. . ."

"Fuck you Pierce, don't uh huh me. . . Good luck"

"Uh huh, fuck you too John."

I performed a little sarcastic salute, turned around, and walked away. I was glad I was out of his hair. Johnson was a nut case. In the Marines, you needed to be friends with certain people. For example, cooks and armory workers. No one wants to end up with snot in their soup or be given some shitty old ammunition. Johnson was neither, however, he was a platoon leader for Bravo team; Second Lieutenant. While I was in the enlisted, his smart ass was in college getting degrees and letters. I guess I was his guide in the infantry culture. He came fresh as a new boot with the goody two shoes look. I remember roughing him up a little bit and instructing him to not overstep the invisible red line.

Anyways, a bit of a late introduction. My name is Tucker Pierce, I'm an lowlife grunt Marine working his way up through life. Despite my Southern as fuck name, I'm actually of half German and half something Asian descent. Anyways, after I got in, there was an offer to become a "Space Marine" which sounded cool at the time, but I pretty much regret everything. I signed below those dotted lines and boom, two years of space and eva training with only a high school degree. Honestly, giving something noble as a "space marine" to a nobody like me seemed like participation rewards for athletes that never showed up.

"Pierce, we leave in eight minutes. Gather your shit!"

"Yes Sergeant!" I shouted back, my voice echoing in the empty hall way. Without further a due, I began jogging to the barracks, passing a few windows here and there. Here on Juneo, we all acknowledged the beauty of space, but we also knew that it is just a mask to conceal the dangers of it. What happens if there was a breach? Well, not even duct tape can patch that one. What happens if there was a magic rock that just so happened to hit the hull that connected all the parts together? What happens if we just so happen to run into another GATE class portal? All these what ifs exist only in nightmares on Juneo. The existence is primarily because USSEFF was on heavy budget watch, so we were flying in a prototype hunk of metal. But you know? Space is beautiful!

On the topic of beautiful, the Juneo Platform looked ugly as hell. It's white on every surface including the interior, with the exception of logos like USSEF and USMC being black out lines. However, the paintjob looked second class and rushed, easily chipped when we run into debris. On top of that, if you were an EVA worker, you would have to deal with the station looking like a giant rectangular saltine floating around in space. I also wasn't too comfortable with a nuclear heater right outside my bunks. I feel as if every time I walk out I get more chances to have cancer.

 _"Finger Print ID required, please follow the fol-"_

I pressed my thumb against the console.

 _"The time is O-One Hundred"_

The barracks doors slid open, retracting into the white walls, of course followed by a eerie hiss. I gave a few waves to the air force guys slacking and playing poker, betting porno magazines to substitute currency. "Don't tell anyone we're skating!" An airman whispered to me, well he tried to, what really came out was a really obnoxious loud intricate plan of how they would hide. The thought didn't really sit well in my head as I slid into a body suit. The airforce guys were in charge of gear maintenance, adjusting course of Juneo, and repairing shuttles. I could already imagine the chaos if all the airmen suddenly disappeared.

Anyways, I clapped my hands in accomplishment as the rest of my stuff was already loaded into the pod just a few days ago. We would have left earlier if not for the flying debris in the way of the pod, and I'm not intelligent enough to explain but all I'm going to say is astronomy and science. Not only that, but we had only arrived on the station six months ago. Although it may seem like a long time to set up, it took a while to establish Zero G and get the water cycle to run again. We had to send out some techs to repair a few cracks in the frame; some asteroids came from no where. My explanation? Magic.

I took a deep breath and took a long gaze at the white glossy walls, flickering LED's and USSEF operators running around. I already knew it would be a long time before I step back onto this platform again. I hated to admit it, but I knew I would miss Juneo a few days into the journey. I would miss the chaos and rowdiness, even though it causes me a hell of alotta trouble. Another side note, the journey was going to be depressing. Depressing that we wouldn't have any internet access. On Juneo, privacy was already scarce. We did it in the showers if we were desperate or even in the vents when they were under maintenance. Now I'm being sent to a planet of unknown origins without any connection to the world. I miss Juneo already. At least the platform had internet, who knows how long I'm going to be stuck on an unknown planet? With that little breather, I prepared myself for the worst and walked out of the barracks doors and headed over to the pods.

Expedition Team Alpha, the team I was assigned to, couldn't have been any better. To me, it was the dream team. We were also the first team to land and signal clear. The team to establish communications and collect data. However, once we landed, it would be another 128 hours for reinforcements and a resupply. So if there was any hostiles in the vicinity of the landing zone, we would be sitting ducks.

"LCpl Pierce?" A voice boomed to my left as I approached the pod bay doors. A small checkpoint. I turned my head slightly and already in my peripheral vision I could already tell who it was. Corporal Harry, he oversteps that invisible red line.

"Yep, that's me. . ." I said with a sigh, pounding my chest with a clenched fist. "That's me."

"I need to see if you are prepped first."

I lifted my hand slowly and abruptly flicked out my pointer finger and directed it at myself, gesturing to what I had on. "Dumbass, I only have this shit on. What is there to see?"

"Don't drop the soap LCpl, let me do my fucking job before I airlock you."

Harry was annoying, he was the type of guy to suck up to every CO. Or as we like to call it, suck dick for rank. I don't even know how this guy became a Corporal before me. In short, I would call him "blind obedient". But then again, it was not in my position to be such a stereotype and talk back. I did as was told and rolled my eyes while doing it. I hated gear inspections, especially when you're about to head into Zero G. It was such a time waste. Not as if I needed more time anyways though.

"Alright, everything is green. Good luck Marine!" Harry said while going over to the control panel and opening the first set of doors. I actually found that oddly comforting, who knows if this was a suicide mission. "Wait one for seal!"

I nodded to him. He pressed a small green button and instantly, the weight in my feet was gone. I was floating about. I reached outwards and gripped onto the bars of a small ladder and began my climb towards the closed pod doors. Inside, I could see the others geared to the teeth already. With all this magic baloney going on, the U.S. figured what would happen with Space combat? They gave us these tall mech looking suits that could only be worn in Zero G because of their weight. However, as soon as you were on ground, it was almost impossible to move with only one person. "Open up guys!" I said, knowing they couldn't hear me as I pounded on the door. As if on cue, the door opened and a pair of hands pulled me in, and proceeded to push me away on the end side of the pod.

"Gear up Pierce, we played rock paper scissors and you're stepping foot first. We got one Space Combat suit on standby and ground expedition gear at your disposal. We also brought normal ground gear in case the planet is similar to ours. Our AAGC color is Desert Red to match Juneo."

"I took the precautions Sir." I begrudgingly nodded to 2ndLT Li. He was an average size Chinese American with what we call "Asian strength". He was the type of kid where everyone looked at his slim build and instantly started to make assumptions. Li proved them wrong every single time, I remember one of our most buff machine gunner faced against Li in a weight contest, only to be upped by another hundred when they competed in push-ups, thirty in pull ups, and well you get the picture.. All in all, Li pretty much had the respect of everyone. He was stern, but lax at the right times. More importantly, he did his job, did his job well. And you might be wondering, his accent? Non-existent. "Li, you ran the calculations right? I don't want to fuck up the landing. Oh wait, you already did, you're a fucking potato calculator."

"Pierce, fuck you, your name is white as hell. Get it changed for fucks sake."

"I'm good. I'd rather have everyone assume I'm a Southern KKK hill-billy living in central Alabama."

"Enough talk you two. LCpl. Saddle up! We launch in one minute." A muffled voice called out from my left.

I chuckled and slipped into the Atma suit. It was a chore to get in but luckily I still had a few seconds on the clock to strap myself in. Right when the last buckle was clicked. I heard an audible crank and then a loud pop, ducking my head in reaction. After a few seconds of silence I realized it was the pod detaching from the platform.

"LCpl Pierce! The only Marine to get PTSD before deployment!" I closed my eyes and slid my hands down my relieved face. I couldn't help but force a smile. Boris was a Polish guy who sounded drunk all the time with his thick accent. Anything that came from his lips could be conveyed as funny or threatening.

The entire pod filled with laughter as we floated off towards the destination. I shook my head in embarrassment, acknowledging my own face turning slightly red.

 _"This is Juneo Command, how copy over."_

Li reached forth and took a small communications device up to his lips. "This is Alpha Team Actual, Green, engage thrusters, over"

 _"Copy that, engaging pod thrusters, ETA 20 Minutes, expect heavy turbulence, over and out."_

"Brace your selves boys!" Boris shouted in a comedic way and proceeded to grip onto the railing to his side.

There were only three places that showed our destination. The control panel, the docking window, and lastly, the landing gear which was at the bottom. Li engaged the landing gear camera, a high quality display of the planet below our feet. Despite the thrusters and the pod shaking violently, we all could clearly see the beauty of **Ardona** without any trouble. Even 200,000 miles away, we could see its glow. We saw what we presumed to be flowing rivers,and weird clouds that attempted to cover the planet's atmosphere. Its pure beauty was jaw dropping, and stunning. However, something about it was off. It was just too perfect, too ominous in its beauty. Yet, I couldn't figure out why. Just looking at the planet for too long gave an uncanny feeling.

" _Any y'all wana grab a drink after this?"_

I'm pretty sure that we all knew of what was to come. We weren't expecting the cliché battle the SDF had when the Gate first opened. However, Command wanted us to be prepared for anything. Space demons, troglodytes, flying dick snakes. Science was pretty much thrown out the window at this point. Whatever was out there, it had un-explicable origins. I dropped my gaze from the screen and looked at the gloved palms of my hands, _Did I fuck up when I signed below those dotted lines? The whole world knows of this, scratch that, two worlds know of this._ It was hard to relax when the officers put so much pressure on a group of enlisted guys. I was unaware that I had been staring at my hands for the past minute before my eyelids closed and a hand was moving across my peripheral vision.

"Pierce? You wanna grab a drink after this? I've been saying that two times. Don't leave me hanging." A voice resonated in my ears. I blinked a few times and looked around. _Zoned out again. . ._ I took a long sigh before rubbing my eyes and grouchily saying, "What? Where are we gonna find a bar anyways? We're 600,000 miles away from Earth!"

 _I came off as an asshole. . ._ I thought to myself before quickly repairing my mistake. "Sorry, gah, zoned out, my bad Doc."

"Uh huh, normally I should be putting in the IV lines to make sure you boys stay hydrated. But now you're telling me you don't want a drink." Doc said with smirk. His actual name was Gary, but everyone thought that was a gay name, so we just stuck with Doc. He wasn't the epitome of the Navy Corpman stereotype, but he demonstrated a very respected skill in alcohol consumption. Usually the Corpman we run into are the ones who are "comforting" and follow the rules, but Doc was the type of guy to blatantly say to you that he was going to pick up your body parts after a firefight. Better apologize before he half asses fixing you up.

Suddenly, a thought then popped into my head. We were going to a planet that could possess some "magical" features. It could be similar to the Special Region the SDF stepped into, or it could be more advanced. What were to happen if we sustained injuries? How were we supposed to be treated? I half opened my mouth to speak but quickly silenced myself. _It's a stupid question anyways._ I scanned the pod only to see Doc raising an eyebrow, prompting me to say what was on my mind. I didn't relent. "Wait Doc. With all the magic and unexplained anomalies. . . How does high command expect you to patch us up?"

"No clue Pierce. I got bio gel, plasma cutter, gauze. Other standard stuff. I'm not sure how I would treat you if you got cursed so to speak."

"Yeah, I'd rather not get cursed with erectile dysfunction."

A few short moments of laughter was ended by Lieutenant Li clearing his throat, drawing everyone to attention.

"Gear check. ETA Fourteen Minutes. And no, I'm not talking about your standard issue. I'm talking about the _special gear_ USSEF wanted us to bring incase we meet other life forms. Staff Sergeant Chase, lead the check-up. When all is green we will move into stage two."

"Right on Butter Bar" Staff Sergeant Chase gave a small wink to Li, who rolled his eyes in annoyance. The two were like brothers, respect was pretty much non-existent. Everywhere Li went, there was a likely chance that Chase was also there. However, he wasn't a suck up like Corporal Harry. Chase intruded Li's personal space purposely to bother him. One-time, Li was trying to "take his sausage hostage" and Chase barged in with a pack of Beers being all gay. After that, rumor spread like wild fire that the two were in an intimate relationship, not serious, but for banter.

"Dictionaries that we will probably never use! English, German, French, Polish, Japanese, Chinese and Russian! If we don't speak their language, we'll force them to speak ours! I got German, sound off!"

"French is a go!" A Corporal to my right exclaimed. His name is Antoine and he's a major fuck up, a perfect negative stereotype about us Grunts in the Corps. Also he has a cool mustache.

"Polish is CHECK!" Boris added in, shoving the large data pad into his ruck sack.

"Chinese is a check!" Li mumbled as he began prepping the pod for stage two.

"Japanese is a check!" Shouted one of the scientists sitting across from me. Now that I think of it, he has never told us his name, nor did the other scientist. Evidently, these guys were part of Office of Naval Intelligence, always up to some covert stuff and crack down on conspiracies. The way the dressed for the landing made them look like Storm Troopers from Star Wars, except we already knew they wouldn't have shitty aim and had no time for monologuing.

"Check Check, we got em' all Staff Sergeant

"All Languages are a go!" Chase shouted to Li, who immediately pushed forth a lever. The lights dimmed and red led lights illuminated the pods interior. It honestly scared me a little. I admit that I shouldn't fear the dark, but in space, anything could happen.

Moments later, we felt ourselves almost getting pulled out our seats. The only thing holding us in were a few straps and buckles. We felt a large thump below us, and shortly after the landing gear camera went static, cutting out.

"Brace! Brace! Brace!"

"We're bracing Lieutenant!" Someone shouted. His words were ultimately drowned by the loud thrusters.

I closed my eyes and out of instinct, clenched my jaw. I lowered my head into the protection of my arms and tried to latch onto anything with my feet.

" _This is Juneo Command to Alpha Team Actual, do you read, over."_

"THIS IS ALPHA TEAM ACTUAL, WE READ, SEND TRAFFIC, OVER!" Li did his best to keep composure, but in the end, he lost it like the rest of us. Even the O.N.I. guys were trembling, screaming in fear as the pod shook violently.

 _"Your path is clear, and you are entering the atmosphere. Cut the thrusters and deploy the landing spike! ETA One Minute!"_

"OKAY, DAMN!" Li shouted again. Bravely going over to flip another switch. Soon, we found that the thrusters shut off entirely, but it didn't stop the turbulence the pod was experiencing. I could hear the electronic gear being deployed and the landing spike being positioned. I'm pretty sure that Li had a tough time manually positioning the spike with a fuzzy camera and shaking hands, but we had to trust him.

At this point, minutes became hours, and our screaming exasperated our lungs. We found ourselves trying to yell but nothing came out. Who could blame us for being this scared?

 **"Impact in Five, Four, Three, Two, One. . ."**


	3. Chapter 1-2: LZ

**Chapter 1-2: LZ**

* * *

 **Making connection to server. . .**

 **Sync complete. . .**

 **Retrieving client info. . . .**

 **Success, sending client info. . .**

 **Logged in. . .**

* * *

 **Location: Ardona, United States Space Expedition Force (USSEF)**

 **Unit: 0398 Orbital Shock Marine, LCpl Tucker Pierce (9553-228-13231) Charlie Company  
Age: 22  
Weight: 156 Lbs  
Height: 5'11**

 **Current Time: June 4th 2064, 02:48  
Company Units: Alive/Injured/KIA/MIA: 90/0/0/0  
Expedition Team: Alpha: 10 Units**

 **Status: Green**

 **Last Updated: *Eight Minutes Ago ***

* * *

We landed hard, way too hard. If we were podding to Earth it would've been a fatal story. Luckily for us, the surface we landed on consisted of a hard crust, but the underneath was relatively soft. However, I couldn't consider myself lucky at the time. The feeling of sudden increase in humidity and not to mention my nervousness, caused me the sweat. Beads of them rolling from my chin into my hair. Dazed as I was, I could feel a sudden weight in my head, like a migraine.

 _"Be ready to catch him!"_ Shouted a voice in what I presumed to be above me. I looked down which took effort, as if something was pulling me down.

I opened my mouth to speak, "Wait, wha-" Before I could even finish my sentence. A clenched hand, in it was a small knife without any special physical attributes. However, the blade did flash in the dim lighting. Reflecting into my eyes and temporarily blinding me. At the thought of the knife, I prepared myself for the worst and squinted my eyes, biting down on my molars and reeling back. At that point, my mind was blank, overcome with exhaustion. My throat felt dry and my lips parched; I wish someone would just shove a bottle into my mouth and tip it gently. The air was getting thicker, and I could feel my sweat glands doing their best.

 _"His Oxy is broken, we gotta get him down ASAP! Someone grab the plasma cutter!"_

I could feel the straps holding me in the seat be cut as my body, being bullied by a suit of heavy armor, was slowly rising towards the ceiling. The weight being guided and distributed to a center point. Then, I began to fly at a high speed towards the ceiling, my head hitting it first with an audible ' _clunk_ ".

The air was getting scarce and I could barely keep my eyes open. However, I did see a few sparks fly in front of my face, leaving a hot metallic glow where it came from, almost forming a circular shape. Suddenly, a loud, ear deafining hiss reverberated throughout my helmet. The circular shape being popped out of its hot metal outlines.

"Hey Pierce! Uh, you okay?"

The thought that I might of been upside down never hit me.

 **One Hour Later. . .**

We removed the bulky parts of the Atma armor off, I could finally breathe. I walked over to some shattered UV glass to see some color return to my face. God knows what would've happened if I was in that suit for another minute. All that was left of it was a few major pieces of the armor, making it a breathable armored exo-skeleton. The armor was also colored white as to not absorb the suns heat. On my right shoulder plate was the U.S. Flag facing the opposite direction and on my left was the USMC insignia with full colors of red and yellow. My helmet was pretty much useless now for containing the oxy, but the pods mainframe computer detected clean oxygen outside.

"Hey Grunt, get a move on."

I blinked a few times and continued staring at the mirror. Inside the mirror, I could see behind me was a disgruntled Air Sergeant crossing his arms in his infamous useless AGCC.

"You don't need to remind me." I rolled my eyes and turned around to face the man. He was no taller than 5'9 and he had a scrawny build. I guess that's what happend when you stay in five star Government paid hotels for a career.

"Chin up grunt, do as your told." The Senior Airman added.

I crossed my arms and leaned my left shoulder against the pods cold wall. I folded my right leg at an arch and positioned it behind my left. At the time, I wasn't going to get talked down to by someone in another branch. However, judging by his reaction, I was pretty sure that he wasn't used to having people question his authority. At the same time, we were on a different planet, security cameras monitoring us, chips impanted in us, and other things they did to our bodies in the two short years. I had no choice but to respect the decision. "Where's briefing?" I said in defeat.

Senior Airman Teddy, or "Mr Chairforce" took me back over to the pod bay entrance, where all the seats were located. Huddled around a janky table was Chase, Li, and the two O.N.I. spooks. Despite the humid air in the pod, the two agents still kept their suits on, full seal and everything, while Chase and Li were shirtless fanning themselves with a few documents. Teddy had enough of my stalling and pushed me over to the group and walked away with his hands shoved into his pockets. I took note of the message and nodded, taking a deep breath before squeezing between Chase and Li. "So, what's going on?"

There was an awkward silence for a good solid ten seconds. All eyes were on me, I didn't mind that though. What I did mind was the two agents looking in my direction, I couldn't see their expression, intent, and most of all, their eyes. Looking at the agents reflective visors, I saw myself, my rugged tired self in the black oblivion. What finally broke the silence was the tapping of a small data pad. On the data pad was a blurry close up image of where we landed, every few seconds it would clear up and go back to a static phase.

"That is live footage from Juneo. . ." Chase said with a sarcastic tone. "Of course, it's not being played to the public. We'll just save the footage and then release it to the media a few weeks in." He opened his mouth to speak again before the O.N.I. agent to his right turned its head to face Chase, staring him down.

 _"This is of serious matter Staff Sergeant, if we leak any information or do anything against protocol I will have you terminated from this Operation and Court Martialed for treason."_

Chase visibly was infuriated, I could tell by how he knit his eyebrows and how his usually wide open eyes became a little bit tinier. Knowing that he would probably lose the argument, he closed his eyes for a solid second and sighed. Having O.N.I. around was like having strict parents, except these parents would actually kill you if you didn't do it exactly by the book. There isn't much to appreciate for O.N.I. Operatives and Agents besides them being all secretive and obnoxious. If I had the choice to strangle these two in front of me and being the first one to step on Ardona, I'd definitely strangle one of them before being shot in the back of the head.

Passed the little altercation and resuming the briefing, I turned my head back to the data pad. Judging from the static and the blurriness, something was off. The coordinates in which the pod landed was ways apart from the designated LZ. "We landed 22 miles away from the designated LZ?" I shouted in utter shock. I placed my hands on the back of my head and paced around the seats a few times before slamming a fist onto the table. "Li, how in the fuck did you get this off course?"

"Watch it Lance Corporal" Li warned. _Woops._ I seemed to hit a soft spot.

There was silence, and then it broke again as I forced a smirk and punched Li in the chest. Holding back a few snorts and laughs, I utter out, "How did you fuck up this bad?"

Li rolled his eyes in resentment, forcing a chuckle. "Go figure."

* * *

Before I even knew it, I was in the pod exit, staring at the one way glass knowing the other guys were watching me. I looked down at my hands narrowed my focus to the dot, my lips tightened and my eyes felt dry. In my hands, my clutched hands,was the American flag and all its glory. Instead of 55 stars, we stuck with the old fashioned 50. Personally, the other five stars weren't placed too well on the new flag. Anyways, the pole was extendable and at the bottom was a metallic electronic device that would dig into the ground. The flag itself was about the height of me and the width of a tall lanky basketball players wing span. I glanced back at the glass, seeing my reflection and raising a hand up to say "see you soon" to the guys. I knew most of them were behind it, arms crossed and joking that I would die.

"Pull down manually whenever you're ready Pierce. . . Don't hit the red button." Li's reassuring voice played in my ear through my comms.

Without further a due, I took a step forward, reached toward the red lever, and pushed it down. I stepped back upon hearing the doors crank open, and a blinding light shone straight into my eyes causing me to raise my arm up to block it. I squinted my eyes and looked away, my right hand tightly clutching the flag pole. I could already feel Ardona's wind and fresh air fly past me, filling the pod bay exit with fresh air. From the cold touch and the sudden decrease in humidity, I could already tell that Ardona was a fresh planet ready to be inhabited. I took a few cautious steps towards the exit and side stepped down the ramp. The bright blinding light gone, allowing me to see clearly. The greenery, the colorful mountains and the jade clouds that astonished my eyes. I felt my jaw drop at such scenery. This was better than any location on Earth. Call it a hasty first impression, but I felt as if that everywhere I would walk on Ardona would be equally surprising and beautiful. Comparing it to Earth was a disgrace, and that's just being nice.

 _"Pod bay exit has been opened. . ."_

 _"Pierce? How are you doing?"_

"Its. . . It's beautiful!"

 _"We don't care about the planet right now. How do you feel?"_

I took my eyes off the scenery and got back into the mindset. _Right, right. . . Check my body for any space aids. . ._ I rubbed my sweaty skin to no prevail, I checked everywhere and there was no sign of, well, dying. "Well, I feel great in this fresh, _relaxing, soothing, calm breeze."_ I teased. I would be out here for an entire day to confirm the safety of Ardona, while they were in that humid and hot pod suffering for 18 long hours of no network. After that though, I would be the one suffering. They would take blood tests, urine samples and all that other science mojo. If it were up to me, I would've taken one of this magic wizard dudes from the Special Region to help out on this mission. I turned around after hastily and reluctantly inspecting myself, giving a thumbs up.

 _"Copy that, go ahead and plant that baby."_ Chase's loud voice rang through my ear. I immediately removed the comms piece wedged in my neck and cried in agony. "Can you be anymore louder?"

 _"DO YOU WANT TO TEST ME LANCE CORPORAL?"_ His loud voice blared through the comms piece, I could still hear it audibly even though it was shoved into my pocket. I chuckled and put the piece back in my neck.

 _Now, where do I plant this sucker?_ I thought to myself. Scanning the horizon for any candidates. There was a small hill with a what I thought to be berry bushes. There was also a solid mound but looked painful to climb, jagged rocks and view of the entire land scape. _Perfect!_ I silently thought to my self with a large grin, brighter than the blinding sun. Tucker Pierce, first man to set foot and plant the flag on Ardona. I was the next Neil Armstrong, except there was oxygen and I had a mechanized power suit on me. The thought didn't hit me at the time but I found out the hard way when I jumped over the shrunken deployable base box. I had jumped two feet higher than usual. "Yo what the fuck? This has to be the Atma exo right?"

 _"Pierce, what happened!? Respond, over"_

"Lieutenant, my dumb ass just figured out Ardona's gravitational pull is way lighter." I responded with a chuckle, scratching the back of my head like a klutz.

 _"Nooooo, it's totally not as if we were heading to a planet smaller than Earth. You fucking dumb ass. Hurry up and plant the flag. Turn on your body cam and act professional, we need this footage for media sake."_

"Solid Copy."

I began my climb. It didn't take much effort or sweat, it was just a boring process of patting the rock surface for anything to grip on. It was like a lottery, except, with everytime you lose you could fall to your death. I wasn't willing to chance it after coming this far. You know the saying of "never look down", but it always gets to the mind and forces you to look down. Back when I was at the pod, the climb didn't look like it would take very long. However, here I was, thirty minutes in hanging on the ledge that could break any second. However, that was just my second priority. The first priority was to secure footage and plant the flag. How else was I supposed to come back all celebrated and decorated? _I'll reap the benefits after this all blows over._

I pulled myself over and rolled onto what seemed to be soft like grass, only to realize that grass isn't purple and have little vines sprouting out. The vines were all linked together, well, more of tied together in a way. Not matter how far I walked, as long as there was some of that purple grass, there would be a vine that trailed along and spread the greenery, no, spread the purplery grass into different crevices and surfaces. But, that's besides the point. I brushed myself off and headed over to the ledge, raising the flag pole and without hesitation, slammed it into the soft surface. It went straight through as expected and functioned as intended. The pole extended, raising the flag high in the air, the breeze blowing ever so softly to the point where the flag waved around in the sky peacefully. I had a hard time capturing the moment though as the body camera was attached to my suit, so it wasn't movable. I had to arch my back and resorted to laying back on the flat grass to capture the final moments.

"This is Lance Corporal Tucker Pierce, United States Space Expedition Force, Charlie Company, Alpha Expedition Team, we have arrived on June 4th at 2:48 Standard Earth time." I said with feigned confidence. I knew that if I stuttered, hesitated, or showed any sign of nervousness, I could be the laughingstock on earth for the next decade. I also was given four minutes to practice the script which seems easy enough, but keep in mind that I was at an awkward angle recording the waving flag and also had Chase shouting in my ear. "Ending transmission, over and out." I said again after standing up and giving the camera an intake of the scenery. I sighed of relief and walked over to the ledge, angling myself and sliding off. I had figured that with the exo skeleton and the metal sole at the bottom I could just slide off the rocky dirt surface like I was snow boarding. Except, I couldn't turn or do any flips.

Without any directives, and nothing much to do as a test subject, I took position on a rock, crossing my legs. I sat there, enjoying planetary air, watching the other guys suffer inside the pod as I pulled back my arms to support my head. Well, I guess I'll just wait for decontamination.


	4. Chapter 1-3: LZ

Quick Notice: You will know when a chapter is finished when another chapter is published after it. This message will be removed when I post the next chapter/section

 **Chapter 1-3: LZ**

* * *

 **Making connection to server. . .**

 **Sync complete. . .**

 **Retrieving client info. . . .**

 **Success, sending client info. . .**

 **Logged in. . .**

* * *

 **Location: Ardona, United States Space Expedition Force (USSEF)**

 **Unit: HM-8403 Fleet Marine Reconnaissance Independent Duty Corpsman,** **HM4 Gary Ackermann (9003-228-13333) Charlie Company  
Age 39  
Weight: 240  
Height: 6'2**

 **Current Time: June 5th 2064, 32:22  
Company Units: Alive/Injured/KIA/MIA: 90/0/0/0  
Expedition Team: Alpha: 10 Units**

 **Status: Green**

 **Last Updated: *One Hour Ago***

The flag waved calmly in the Ardona breeze, the red, white, and blue revitalized by the fresh air, almost giving it life. The sun was rising in the distance from the South, specifically between the four mountain ranges. The unusual colored clouds turned into a crimson hue and the water rippled with the suns reflections. Heat waves obscured the distance, but I could make out the individual tops of the flat styled trees. Even despite the sensational view, I couldn't get my mind off what happened last night. Pierce would forever be looming in the shadows of my mind, forever there in the corner of my sleep.

The worst thing about inspections and decontamination is we have to check the entire body. Eventually, the nickname "Doc" came to "genital fondler". On top of that, the pod was humid and hot, resulting in a little thing called "sweat". It wasn't the worse thing that I've done in my service. The thing most engrained into my head was waving the prostate thermometer as a bluff for punishment, little did I know I actually had to carry the task out. However, it was a lesson learned at that. There isn't such thing as losing in my mind, only winning and learning. My major take away from this day was that Pierce was to never to be trusted to hold still. On the contrary, I did note a slight change in the personalities of the men after being exposed to the air of Ardona. I couldn't quite pick it out, but I knew something was wrong. I documented this in Landing Report #2 and stowed it away in a safe drive.

I stood up and turned around to face the sun again, holding one hand up to shield my eyes from its rays. Ardona was just as beautiful as I expected it to be, and it was more astonishing in person than on the screen. I guess the additional benefits like the smell, the feel, and the vibe made it seem so surreal that we were here. Maybe I was just getting a little too much adrenaline in my system about the fact that we were the Neil Armstrongs of the present

"Any of y'all wana grab a drink later?" I shout in the commotion, raising my right hand to cup my mouth. They all turned to me with confused expressions, giving me a look. You may think that I may be a weirdo for saying this all the time, but there's a reason for it. A cold one with the boys is very refreshing. The bitterness of the bear kicks you back, making you huff out that sigh. The bitterness makes us appreciate life and take our mind off the hardships we must endure as humanity rebuilds itself. Well, that is just how I perceive it.

"Doc, I think the retarded third gay of a gender has gotten to you. We must carry out Order 66." The voice came from behind me, and I felt a sunken dread feeling wash over me as I realized who it was.

Pierce of all people was the one to make that remark. I turn around to see him in a towel, his body shining in the Ardona sun, glimmering as he turned. He deliberately flexed his muscles, specifically his pecs and biceps. "Look at them babies Doc." Pierce says with a grin as he unties his towel. Almost immediately, a few head turn. However, the towel drops to reveal standard operational shorts, black and new. "That was a bit anti climatic ain't it?" He said shortly, waving a finger.

This is the half side I hate about Pierce. He declines every time I offer to hit up the bar with some folks, declines every offer for STD immunity, and declines who he is truly. However, he isn't really bad once you get on his good side. He's almost like a half brother, except a half brother who will whip out his flacid prick just to surprise your girlfriend. Well, it hasn't happened yet, but, worse comes to worse ya'know? "Eat a big one Pierce." I say with feigned annoyance, rolling my eyes while at it.

He simply replies by swaying his hips, "My dick swings both ways. Remember when we thought the earth was flat? Well it comes back!" He says with a cheeky grin.

"Fuck off." I say, flipping the bird before resuming my business. I had a task at hand. The O.N.I guys weren't having the fact that Pierce was our guinea pig, let alone having Lieutenant Li spear head the Alpha team. Let's just say he had a track record of riling men up in good and bad ways. Sadly for me, I had to be the border between them and ONI. Basically I was a unofficial diplomat in this matter, but the main purpose of why I was here was because I was the only medical professional of the group.

"Doc! Please tell me you know what a QOS is. The guys on Juneo are bickering and shouting about some acronyms and I could hardly understand them." Said Staff Sergeant Chase as I approached him. I simply gave a small reassuring smile before saying, "Quarantined Operational Sample. They mean if Pierce is still alive I presume".

"Ah. . . ." He says before tending back to the long range radio systems. As I walked away, I could hear the metal clanks as Chase let out a frustrated flurry of kicks, paired with profanity and anything you could think of to fix a modern radio system.

I sat down on what seemed to be a smoothed out rock, the texture grainy but solid. To my left was Senior Airman Teddy and Lieutenant Li gathered around a small table, a holographic device set in between them. To my right was the Office of Naval Intelligence guys, who were busy collecting earth samples and such. Whatever they were, they did things in a professional manner. They wasted no time and seemed to communicate telepathically. _I will never understand those guys. . ._ I thought to myself, removing my gloves and rubbing my face out of sheer exhaustion. I had just woken up four hours ago yet I still feel like it was Monday morning, stayed up late and woke up at seven, going to be late to a nine to five job.

Suddenly, two marines run up behind me and sit down next to me. I vaguely knew who they were, let alone their nick names and first names. One of them was a bulky muscular Lance Corporal, and the other was a toned Corporal. They all wore their Atma power armor suits, their helmets removed and strapped to their belt. "Ey Doc, I'm Langley, pleased to meet you." The Lance Corporal says with impeccable confidence. He had old worn out eyes, seemingly in his late thirties. He must've been stuck at terminal lance. The term, terminal lance, refers to being stuck at the rank of Lance Corporal for your information.

"A bit unprecedented there hm?" I say with a chuckle, shaking the Lance Corporals hand. "Pleased to meet you." I then proceed to hug my rifle as a support to hold me up, leaning into it with my weight and Atma armor. "What brings you here?"

"Just trying to get to know some people on this deployment. Upper Brass said we'll be here for more than a year." Langley said, giving me a firm shake and releasing it, drawing his hand back to his inner pockets. "Ey, but before you get further, let me introduce the Corporal." He says gleefully, a prompting smile forming as he turns to face the Corporal, gesturing a hand to draw my attention.

I did as prompted and faced the Corporal. There was an awkward silence for a few moments before I decided to break the ice. I opened my mouth to speak, "Morning Corporal, I'm the guy who will sew your body parts back together." I said jokingly.

As soon as I turned, the Corporal averted his gaze, crossing his legs and looking away. When he finally had the courage to turn around and introduce himself, he wore a small smile with a pair of young eyes. His hair was dirty blonde and he had these stunning blue eyes that could catch the look of any man and woman. He was well shaved and his uniform was right up to the point. His teeth were pure white and his nose was small, a small curved slope so perfect that even I that I envisioned the Himalayan slopes. His eyebrows were light, and he had freckles that looked like Picasso splattered across with his blessed paint. The Corporal was young, I could tell that he was still boy. He had the aura of innocence and purity, almost like an angel that had descended into hell only to befriend the worst of the worst.

"I-I'm Corporal Burman, I know it might be a weird sight but uh. . . Promotion points were pretty fast for me." He said, scratching the back of his head with a humble grin.

It was then I knew, that he was not going to survive. Through his eyes and the way he spoke, he was pretty intelligent for his age. However, he just didn't have any experience in the field. "Nice to meet you both. My real names Gary, but feel free to call me genital fondler if you want." I then turned back to Burman, "I presume you were in the reserves?"

"Y-Yes. . . My father served in the Space Force and I followed suit in the Reserves.. . Its my fourth year."

"Four years. . . Reserves. . . Corporal." Langley said with a chuckle. "What were the upper brass thinking?" He nudged me and gestured at Burmans uniform, clean and unscuffed.

I stood up and walked away, leaving the two. "We'll get a drink later when we get back to Juneo." I said, although I didn't really mean it at the time. I hated to leave them like that, nice people deserve nice things, I just wasn't up to their standards. As soon as I saw Burman, I already knew he wasn't fit. He'd make rash decisions in the field, controlled by emotion. In the end, he was a human, not a soldier.

Ten years ago when I was just a Corpman Third Class, I visited the special region. Unlike Earths ungodly pollution and nuclear fall out, the Special Region felt like a second chance. However, nothing changed. The world was still ruled by money, still ruled by who had the most and ruled by the poorish bandwagon in which the common people whined about. It would the same cycle over again. I remember telling the other guys in my unit that I wish I had brought my son to the Special Region, sneak him in a transport and start a new life there. In my early life though, I would have actually done it, and done it I did. Upon being transported to a Forward Operating Base, I told the guys that we'd be sneaking people in, refugees that were disguised as special region farmers. However, everything was going well till we had to part. Little did I know, that would be the last time I saw him.

Insurgencies are immune to extinction. It's not the matter of physical killing, but the matter of destroying a belief. Destroying a belief was near impossible, and the closest thing to do it was to memory wipe a person, however, that led to controversy, and many riots. The village I had snuck my son into was shortly burned down by a group of rebels, unhappy that their families were killed in the recent take overs. They were also unhappy that the Japanese exploited the special region for resources, which in turn made them a global super power after the nuclear fall out. I guess the Universe gives and takes. . . that was my take away.

Burman reminded me of my son. He was only six when I last saw him. He had this cute smile that would glisten a drunken alcoholics life up, wait, that would be me. Sad to say, but Burman was the splitting image of him, and it was hard to look back at the Corporal as I kept seeing my son in my head. I thought I had made due with that eight years ago, but I guess it still haunts me to this day.

"Corpman, you okay there?"

I blinked to see Staff Sergeant Chase holding a small data pad, his expression told me that he was confused and wondering why I was wandering and pacing around in circles. "Staff Sergeant." I would say in acknowledgement, bowing my head slightly and tilting it to the right.

"Carry on. . ." He would say, his eyes suspicious of me. He had a bemused feigned smile as he turned his head back, and I knew already that he was thinking of something.

I sat down and activated my holo pad, the display flickering to life in mere seconds. Then, I proceeded to log in and stare blankly at the screen. I had reports to make, health reports on each member of Alpha team. I also had to collect the samples for safe keeping so that ONI could further hide it from us. I felt like I was betraying the Marines in a way, as the Doc, too much responsibility rested on my shoulders. Who knows when it will come time for the weight to be removed. . .

"IM JUST A FUCKING DOCTOR!"


End file.
